


Soft and Wet

by Mithrilcite (Orichalcite)



Category: Suicide Boy - ParkGee (Webcomic)
Genre: M/M, Suicidal Thoughts, Suicide Attempt, Water Park
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-12
Updated: 2019-05-14
Packaged: 2020-01-12 02:05:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,299
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18436790
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Orichalcite/pseuds/Mithrilcite
Summary: Lee Hoon, better known as Hooni, has been dealt a shit hand in life. With no parents, no money, and no future prospects, he's been living on his own in a cheap apartment he still can't afford, while also carrying the burden of a ₩50,000,000 debt saddled onto him by his deadbeat father. All of this has driven him to seek the sweet release of death to escape this miserable world on more than one occasion, but recently, in an unexpected turn of events, he now has friends who will look after him for the first time in his life.It's now the middle of summer, and for the past few days, all of Korea has been gripped in the clutches of a massive heat wave, with today being the hottest day yet. Unfortunately for Hooni, with no AC and no money to replace his broken fan, he has no choice but to endure the dizzying heat. As he lies on the floor, contemplating the possibility dying from heat stroke, there's a sudden knock at the door — it's Soorim, the landlady's son and one of Hooni's unlikely friends. What could he possibly want in this weather? Huh, did he just say "water park"?





	1. Soft & Wet

**Author's Note:**

> Suicide Boy is a webtoon made by the very talented ParkGee. I don't know how many people are going to stumble on this fic without knowing the source material since there's not that much fanfiction for Suicide Boy yet, but I've got you covered if you don't. The original Korean raws are avaliable of Lezhin (Volume 1 complete), but there is also a creator-approved English translation on MangaDex that's still being worked on. Overall, it's a cute series with dark moments as the name would suggest, and I hope it'll get even more love in the future. Big thanks to ParkGee and the translation team for all their hard work.

Even though Hooni knew that something like this was bound happen sooner or later — it was literally someone else's trash that he had grabbed from the local dump after all — that didn't make the fact that his fan had just broke down on the hottest day of the year suck any less. With a groan, the 17-year-old fell back and onto the floor, defeated. Maybe if he were to stay completely still, the heat wouldn't bother him as much. Sure, lying on the floor in nothing but a pair of shorts wasn't the most comfortable feeling in the world, but at least it was better than lying in the shallow pool of his own sweat that would get created if he chose to do this in bed instead.

The heat wasn't the only thing bothering Hooni though. After being cooped up within the walls of his apartment for the past few days to escape the sun's deadly rays, he was also incredibly bored. There was only so much he could do with a phone and a weak Wi-Fi connection he was piggybacking off his neighbor's router for, and now with nothing to cool down the room, there was no way he was going to risk letting it suffer the same fate as his fan in this 38 °C hotbox of death if he used it any longer than a few seconds. In addition, neither Soorim nor Jaehoon had come over to his place ever since the heat wave started. They probably because they had better things to do than hang out with some broke loser without an AC unit.

Hooni sighed. At first their absence was a welcome change in pace since it was nice to have some quiet time to himself again, but quiet time to one’s self was only as valuable as the person experiencing it. Now that he had friends, Hooni was now starting to realize just how lonely he was without them, and how pathetic he was for relying on them for any semblance of happiness in his life.

As the sun's rays began to peer through his apartment window and creep towards him, Hooni let out another groan. Now he would have to move, and just when he started to get a little comfortable in this spot too. But before he could build up the will to detach himself from the floor, another thought popped up in his mind. There were people who died of heat stroke every year, right? Maybe if he was lucky, fate would have mercy on him and release him from the bondage of life through this heat wave. All he would have to do was close his eyes, relax, and let the sun do the rest. No blood. No tears. There was certainly going to be a lot of sweat though.

Hooni's lips curled up into a small smile — death by heat stroke didn't seem like it would be all that bad.

The boy took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He could feel beads of sweat rolling over his body as the sun ray's continued to envelop his small frame, but that didn't matter anymore if that meant he could leave this world and all his baggage behind him. Sure, he felt a little guilty over the thought of leaving his friends behind, but they'd move on quickly, wouldn't they? Why did they even bother hanging out with a loser like him in the first place? If he were to die now, he would no longer have to burden anyone else with his existence. Suddenly he heard a knock at the door.

“Hyung1, are you home?” asked a bright and cheery voice.

Hearing Soorim's voice all of a sudden broke Hooni out of his meditative state. He opened his eyes without thinking — big mistake. His poor eyeballs received a full blast of the sun's blinding rays, burning his retinas. He let out a weak whimper that sounded more like the dying gasp of an old man because his throat was so dry, and rubbed his eyes, spreading around what little moisture they had left for tears.

“… so why don't we go to the water park together? It'll be a lot of fun!”

Water park? Those words filled Hooni with a bittersweet sense of nostalgia. It had been a long time ago, but when his mom was still alive and healthy, she had promised to take him to Sea Land for his sixth birthday. Unfortunately, that never happened all because his dad got into debt with the wrong people trying to win “big money”. And now, over ten years later, here comes Soorim, offering to take him to a place he'd fantasized about ever since he was a little kid. If that's where his friend was planning on taking him, then maybe it would be all right to postpone his death just a bit longer…

Hooni slowly peeled himself off the floor, narrowly avoiding tripping over himself while getting back on his feet. Everything in his apartment seemed like it was shifting back and forth like waves in the ocean. Was this some sort of heat-induced delirium? Despite feeling like he was about to dry-heave, Hooni managed to maintain enough consciousness to stumble his way towards the door. He undid the lock, fumbling with it a bit, and flung the door open while keeping a tight grip on the knob for support.

The blond looked as cheerful as ever with that big grin on his face. It was kind of annoying how he could still manage to look so happy in this weather, but Hooni attempted to give him a smile in return anyway since he was genuinely nice to him despite being kind of overwhelming at times. But the grin on Soorim's face was quickly replaced with a look of concern when he noticed the state Hooni was in — the smaller boy was hunched over, seemingly struggling to breathe, with a face that looked as red as a chili pepper. Soorim was about to ask if he was okay, but it was at that moment that Hooni's grip on the doorknob loosened, and his legs gave in.

"Hyung!"

Without a second thought, Soorim grabbed one of Hooni's scrawny arms and pulled him close. He could feel how sticky with sweat Hooni's body was at the moment, but that was among the least of his concerns now. Hooni's eyes were glazed over, and he wasn't responding.

Soorim maneuvered the both of them back into the apartment, not even bothering to close the door behind him or take his shoes off, and locked his sights on the first source of water he could find — the kitchen sink. Gently, Soorim brought Hooni over to the sink, then propped his limp body against a counter. Using a bowl he grabbed out of the cupboards, Soorim splashed his friend down with cold water over and over in the hopes that this alone would be enough to revive him.

Hooni's body twitched, then shivered as the water continued to rush over him, drenching him from head to toe. Then, right as Soorim was about to soak him for the ninth time, Hooni placed his hands over his head protectively and gasped, “S-stop! It's c-cold…”

Soorim knelt down, bowl in hand, to Hooni's level and said, “Sorry, I guess I overdid it. You okay, hyung?”

Hooni nodded while brushing away some of the sopping wet hair that had drooped over his eyes. The first thing he saw was Soorim's face. He was smiling, but from the way he was looking at him, he still seemed a little worried. Hooni opened his mouth to say something, only to realize how thirsty he still was.

“W-water…” was all he could croak out.

“Oh! Right, of course…” said Soorim sheepishly before getting up to check if there was bottled water in the fridge. At least, that’s what he would have done if Hooni hadn't grabbed the hem of his jeans.

“Tap is okay…”

Soorim was caught off-guard by this, but handed him the bowl without comment.

Hooni gulped it up almost instantaneously. Then with a satisfied sigh, he set the bowl aside on the wet kitchen floor. It was at that point did he realize just how much of a mess Soorim had made while trying to save his life. He was currently sitting in a big puddle of water, and there was a trail of dirty footprints leading  from the kitchen floor to the front door. Soorim seemed to have also noticed this when he bent down to pick up the bowl, laughing nervously while doing so.

“Sorry, hyung. You should go ahead and change. I'll clean up the mess.”

“It's fine,” Hooni sighed. He couldn't blame Soorim for doing what he could to stop him from possibly dying.

Then another realization hit him. He had opened the door without even thinking to put a shirt on first, and then after he collapsed, Soorim must have had to carry his gross, sweaty body back inside. The very thought of it made Hooni want to curl up and die. Then again, that was kind of how had gotten into this mess in the first place.

“Hyung, are you really feeling okay? Can you not get up?”

Hooni’s face was now flush with embarrassment. He buried his head into his hands and said, “I'm fine. Um, I'm sorry about…. Uh…”

Through the gaps of his fingers, Hooni saw Soorim kneel down in front of him. He was about to ask him what he was doing, until he felt a hand pressing up against his forehead. If his face was red before, it was crimson now.

Soorim’s eyes widened. “You're burning up again.”

The blond immediately got up before Hooni even had the chance to make up an excuse, and now he could hear the faucet running again.

“Huh? W-wait, Soorim! Don't — !”

Hooni had finally started to get back up on his feet, but it was too late. He felt a cascade of water roll off his head and down his back. And if that wasn't enough, before Hooni could even stand up properly, he slipped over the wet floor and fell right on his butt.

This was going to be a long day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1) Hyung is a term used in Korea by younger males towards older ones as a sign of respect. Translated, it means older brother, although I guess in English, the closest term to that would be "bro", except hyung is age-specific and more formal.


	2. Interlude

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, it's been a while since I posted this story, huh? Literally over a month. I am so sorry guys! I have, however, expanded the scope of the story so there will now be three chapters instead of just two. Can't promise when I'll have that ready, but it'll be a bit of a long one, yet I also plan to work on it as quickly as I can. Thanks for reading, guys.

“I told you already,” Hooni groaned, “I'm not sick. It's just really hot in here because my fan won't turn on anymore. I think it broke down last night when I was still asleep.”  
  
After having made a fool of himself in the aftermath of another suicide attempt cut short, Hooni was not about to let a misunderstanding stop him from going to Sea Land. Even if it was only going to be one day out of his miserable life, it was a childhood dream come true. The only thing missing from this was his mom.  
  
“Seriously? Damn, that's really unlucky,” said Soorim as he set the rag in his hand aside and turned away from the kitchen sink. “You must have been stuck in this heat for hours. No wonder you fainted.”  
  
Hooni watched as Soorim brought his arm up to wipe away the few drops of sweat that had formed over his brow. He couldn't help but feel a little jealous over how well Soorim's body was dealing with the heat. All Hooni had to do was put on a shirt and a new pair of shorts, and after a few minutes, he could already feel the fabric clinging to his moistening skin. Meanwhile, within the same time frame, Soorim had managed to clean up the mess he had made in his apartment, while barely working up a sweat.  
  
“I wish you had told me sooner. Maybe I could ask my mom to—”  
  
“No!” cried out Hooni, eyes wide with fear. This fear was then quickly replaced with regret when he realized how rude he might have sounded. He had reacted to the mention of Soorim's mother in the same way someone would react to a flesh-eating demon.  
  
“Um. Uh… S-Sorry, I— I didn't mean it like that…”  
  
Soorim was stunned by Hooni's sudden outburst. The smaller boy had always been meek and soft-spoken, with the one exception being that time he got Hooni drunk. Although, after giving it some thought, Hooni’s somewhat extreme reaction to the mere mention of his mom wasn't really that surprising. Hooni owed his mom several months’ worth of unpaid rent, so he was likely still worried that she was going to kick him out any day now. Of course, Soorim knew his mom would never be so cruel.  
  
After recovering from his initial shock, Soorim did his best to calm Hooni down by giving him a reassuring smile and saying, “Hyung, it's fine. If my mom wanted to kick you out, she would have done it months ago. This really isn't a big deal. If you want, I could just tell her—”  
  
“N-no! It’s okay!”  
  
Hooni let out a nervous chuckle. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest. Despite trying his best to act normal, he felt like he was being hunted by a vicious predator that he couldn't see.  
  
“I-I just don't want to bother her, that's all. Ha ha… It's not— I wasn't even thinking about the… the…”  
  
He felt a lump form in his throat.  
  
“The rent…”  
  
Hooni's voice trailed off after uttering that dirty, four-letter word. At this point, Soorim knew he wasn't going to be changing Hooni's mind about his mom anytime soon.  
  
Soorim sighed and slung his arm over the other boy's shoulder, which made Hooni flinch.  
  
“Okay, okay, I get it. If you don't want me to tell my mom about your broken fan, I won't.”  
  
He then flashed Hooni a wink and a grin.  
  
“So, if there's nothing else you need to do, how about we leave this apartment and go to Sea Land? After what happened today, I bet you could really use a break from this heat.”  
  
That was something they could both agree on.

* * *

Since Sea Land was located on the outskirts of the city, it only made sense for the two of them to take a train ride there. Yet today it was as if everyone in the city was trying to escape the heat by taking refuge in an air-conditioned train car. It wasn't too bad at first — seats or no seats, Hooni was just glad to be in a place full of cool air even if he had to share it with several dozen complete strangers. But with each passing stop, more and more people were getting on the train than getting off, to the point where Hooni ended up having his face pressed up against Soorim's chest before they had even made it halfway to their destination. While Soorim didn't seem to mind, the two of them stayed in that position for what were some of the most awkward fifteen minutes of Hooni's life.  
  
When the train finally arrived at their stop, Hooni was grateful finally have some personal space again. Stuff like this was a big reason why he normally just walked wherever he needed to go. Well, that and the fact that he was broke as fuck.  
  
The station itself was actually quite pretty, or at least very colorful. As he followed Soorim through the station, Hooni found himself glancing all over the place, trying to take in as many sights as he could before inevitably walking away from them while keeping up with Soorim's brisk pace. The walls were coated with pictures of cute marine animals splashing around in pools, going down water slides, and just having fun with the attractions at Sea Land in general. There were even big TV screens showing animated shorts with the water park's mascots. Soorim was not nearly as enamored by all of this as Hooni was, probably because he had been here many times before, but for Hooni, this place was something special. It reminded him of the old days, back when he used to watch cartoons on one of those old boxy analog TVs — back when he still had a family. Or, back when he had a mom, really. His dad barely even counted as a dad.  
  
For a second, Hooni was tempted to ask Soorim if they could maybe stop to watch some of the animated shorts but decided against it because the younger teen would probably think he was a massive dork for being into something so childish. Besides, Soorim didn't seem like a guy that would be into cutesy stuff like this anyway. He was obviously here for the rides, not the mascots.  
  
“Hey, hyung. I forgot to ask. Is there a particular ride you want to go on first?”  
  
That question caught Hooni by surprise. He had basically been prepared to follow Soorim's lead for the entire day since he was the one paying for this whole trip in the first place. It wasn't like he had detailed information about the water park anyway since until Soorim came knocking at his door this afternoon, he had no expectations of ever being able to go to Sea Land. It wasn’t like he knew every ride in the park by name. Soorim was patiently staring at him, waiting for an answer. This just made it even harder for Hooni to name a particular ride because now he was really feeling anxious about it.

Suddenly, an answer came to him.  
  
“Um, what about the dragon boats?”  
  
Yet as soon as he uttered those words, he was hit by a wave of cringe after realizing what exactly he had just suggested. Despite the cool sounding name, the dragon boats were a slow-moving attraction over a calm waterway that ran across the park. In other words, to any normal teenage boy, it was totally lame and now Soorim was going to think he was just as lame for even suggesting it. The only reason it came to mind in the first place was because he remembered his mom having said that the dragon boats were the ride she looked forward to the most because it was a ride parents took their kids on so they had an excuse to sit down and relax after a long day of dealing with their overly energetic children. She was kidding of course, but that description was probably not too far off from the truth. Either way, there was no way Soorim would want to go on a ride like that.  
  
“The dragon boats? I don't think I've been on that ride before. Let me double-check.”  
  
Soorim dug his phone out of his jeans and tapped the screen a few times.  
  
“Oh, here it is! Huh… It says here that this ride only operates at night.”  
  
He turned the screen around so Hooni could see for himself. Sure enough, right on Sea Land's website was a statement saying that the dragon boats were only operated from 9 to 10 PM. There were even pictures of the dragon boats themselves as they sailed through the night with fireworks going off in the background.  
  
“Oh, sorry,” murmured Hooni, embarrassed. That made a lot of sense now that he thought about it.  
  
Soorim just grinned and said, “No problem. If you want to stay here in the park until then, that's fine with me. Plus, that means we'll have plenty of time until then to go on a bunch of other fun rides! I've got a few ideas myself. Trust me, it'll be fun.”  
  
Hooni gulped. The happy-go-lucky look Soorim had on his face after saying that worried the smaller boy because Soorim's idea of fun oftentimes didn't align with his, and yet despite his newfound worries, there was another feeling growing in his heart — excitement.


End file.
